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Photonics back-and-forth continues

At Navitar, Emily Hoh builds a large lens that will be used in a planetarium projector. U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer says the local optics and photonics industry could suffer if a federal rule is adopted that would limit their exports.(Photo: MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Buy Photo

For the third straight day, Rochester's titans of photonics attempted to clarify their collective position on which downtown building should house the headquarters of AIM Photonics.

Wednesday, a group including the heads of Wegmans, Eastman Kodak and Paychex said the Legacy Tower, formerly the Bausch + Lomb building, would make the best choice. That was after University of Rochester President Joel Seligman had made it seem the Sibley Building on East Main Street was the prohibitive favorite.

On Friday, the squabble apparently cleared and momentum shifted back toward Main Street. In a statement on UR letterhead, Seligman, Warren, Danny Wegman, U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, Assemblyman Joe Morelle, D-Irondequoit, County Executive Maggie Brooks and Rochester Institute of Technology President William Destler wrote that they "continue to believe" the Sibley Building is the proper choice.

"We want to be quite clear that we remain united in our position and in our determination to bring the most effective photonics program to Rochester," the statement read. "We believe it unwise for program elements, including the location of the program's corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities, be determined in haste without full consultation with appropriate leaders in our community."

It is unclear to whose haste they were referring, or when that full consultation will take place.

The letter stated that the signatories would also retain their confidence no matter where the headquarters — the size, design and function of which is still unknown — is eventually located.

Even who will make the final decision about the headquarters location has been the topic of differing statements. Some officials claim it will be made by the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, based near Albany, which is overseeing the center, but others say a board has been appointed to make the decision.

The original memorandum of understanding, signed Dec. 16, 2014, grants equal partnership to the SUNY Polytechnic Institute Foundation and the University of Rochester in the photonics center. It says each party will appoint an equal number of members to a steering committee responsible for implementation, execution and operation of the center.

Presumably that steering committee would make the headquarters decision, but who is on it or whether its members have even been named has not been publicly announced.

Slaughter said Friday that she was "most unhappy" about the public bickering.

"I don't think this looks good to have this breakdown and it has been really stunning to me," she said. "I don't know why they're fighting it out in the newspaper. ... It seems like the people involved in the decision could have gotten in a room and hashed it out."

She also said she learned Friday that UR and RIT have already made investments at the Sibley Building.

Ultimately, Slaughter said the location decision should be made in Rochester, not Albany, because the workforce for photonics initiatives is in Rochester — "there are already 15,000 working in photonics."